Swift: I’m nothing without music

Taylor Swift doesn’t know “what her life would look like” if she couldn’t write music.

The 23-year-old star will be honored with a songwriter/artist of the year award by the Nashville Songwriters Association International over the weekend. It will mark the sixth time she has received the prize, a fact she’s still getting her head around.

“Writing my own music is what makes up most of my identity, I think, as an artist and as a human being,” she told USA Today. “I don’t know what my life would look like if I didn’t write songs… to have that part of my life be honored is so special, I can’t even verbalize how special that is.”

Taylor is famed for drawing on her own life when penning lyrics. She often writes about her ex-boyfriends and her hit I Knew You Were Trouble is widely believed to be about One Direction heartthrob Harry Styles, who she briefly dated.

The singer is unabashed about her writing process and hopes her fans listen when she says how much it has helped her over the years.

“I’ve tried to tell my fans how much writing songs has helped me with my life, and has helped me process my emotions,” she explained. “It doesn’t matter if that’s something you want to pursue as a career. I think that trying to figure out a way to say what you need to say and articulate what it is you’re feeling is a way to make your life easier.”

Last weekend the Taylor Swift Education Center opened earlier than expected in Nashville. It is housed at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, with Taylor giving $4 million to ensure it came about.

“In school, I was taught a certain amount about music, a certain amount about theatre, and that interest sparked something in me. It made me look elsewhere to learn much more about it,” she explained, when quizzed on why the project is important to her.